


Cuy'val Dar - "Those who no longer exist."

by Narquestaur



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Light Angst, No major spoilers season 1 The Mandalorian, POV Original Character, Pre Season 1 The Mandalorian, Pre-baby yoda, Space Opera, Tags Are Hard, Tatooine (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:06:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22194529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narquestaur/pseuds/Narquestaur
Summary: Greef offers The Mandalorian a chance at a thrilling hunt, for less credits than he would like.  When does anything Din ever does go completely to plan?  What does he do with his unexpectedly acquired "crew" ? Dumping them off at a planet is not easy or cheap.  They'll have to earn the passage to freedom.
Relationships: The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 8





	1. Less than break even

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic of any length. I'm a bit detail obsessive sometimes its good sometimes its boring. If so I apologise Ill try to keep it interesting. I will try to get some artwork uploaded to go with it at some stage. Even if its just to give an idea of what the original characters look like. (Cos well we all know what Din Djaren looks like or at least we should!)
> 
> Id just like to point out about the original female characters name - She is not named "Wren" after clan Wren, Sabine Wren etc. etc. She is named after the bird. I actually had settled on the name before I even watched Rebels. So I hope that's not too confusing. 
> 
> Though Im sure everyone has finished Season 1 of The Mandalorian I have actually tried to keep major spoilers out of the fic.

1.

The couple walked hand in hand through the stone wall surrounded fields, keeping a cautious eye on the dark tree line of the dense lifeless forest that surrounded the rich farm lands. Those trees also got darker before anywhere else in the area. With the reports that had been gradually spreading towards their settlement of a massive wild animal that had been tearing livestock to pieces, terrorising and chasing people. For years they had heard the stories but then again it was always in some town or settlement too far away from them to care about. But less than a week ago someone had lost an animal out of one of the far fields. Nothing was found of it than a splattered pool of blood on the grass. Huge prints of a large predator. Most experts considered it very out of the ordinary. It was known that there was very little of any large animals on their planetoid. People didn’t come to Asusto for the wildlife, they came for the rich soil for growing crops and raising livestock.

There was a flurry of insects disturbed from the long grass. “Did you hear that?” The woman looked over her shoulder in nervous fright. “Oh it was just bugs. Don't let it worry you. Look were almost home. Look at how much quicker we got back going through the fields.” The woman rolled her eyes at her fiancé “My love no one is denying that this is a short cut but...” She didn’t get her sentence finished before a large form burst from the trees and onto the stone path behind them. It towered almost half a person more over their own height. It was covered in long shaggy fur, they could see some sort of long toothed jaw hanging down below its indistinguishable head. The woman let out a scream as the two of them tripped and fell trying to take off and run as fast as possible, the man quickly scrambled to his feet picking up his fiancé off the stone road and making a run into the fields. The beast leapt the stone fence with ease and chased them through the dense crops.

The couple ran as fast as their legs would carry them as they tried to outrun the massive shaggy animal closed on them. “Next time someone says don’t take a short cut through the fields at night lets not do it!” the woman rasped out as he helped his female friend along. They clambered over one of the stone walls and hid against it as the crashing through the fields got closer. The woman was panting and crying. He covered her mouth and made a gesture to keep quiet. The thudding of heavy paws on the ground fell silent for a moment as the large beast flew over the top of the stone wall and kept running towards the sparse houses. Together they breathed a sigh of relief that they had survived. No sooner than the breath had left their mouths the beast whirled around and ran back towards them. The couple clutched each other and screamed in terror.

“Hey! You! Over here!” A girls voice shouted at the beast as she appeared up on top of the stone wall, she hurled a rock at the beast getting its attention. It stayed close to its original quarry but glared at the intruder. “Yeah that’s it you big ugly brute!” she threw another rock hitting it on the head. It growled and turned away from the couple who were now too terrified to move. “Now I've got you right where I want you!” She produced a long wooden spear with a pointed tip that led into a blade that ran down one side. The beast went to charge her but was too slow, she leapt forward and flung the spear hard into its neck, the blood red fluid splattering the ground and splattering the couple their shriek of disgust only drowned out by the pained beasts roar, it fled in obvious pain leaping back over the wall and back into the fields from where it had started to chase the couple. The girl hurled more rocks after it “And don't come back!” She hopped down and ran up to the trembling couple.

“Are you both okay? Are you hurt?” she pointed to the blood. “No. No we are amazingly okay. Thanks to you of course!” The man said as he got up and helped his companion to her feet. “You two were very lucky, I heard that these fields were being stalked by some kind of animal. I've been following tales of this beast for years. It always manages to get away. But that is okay. At least its wounded now. I should be able to find it and get my weapon back!” She adjusted her cloak and went to walk away. “Now you should stay safe and hurry back to the main road.”

The woman poked the man hard in the side “Do something!.” she hissed. “Oh. Um. Sorry where are my manners. We owe you our lives. I mean I know you need to get after your prey and your weapon. But here. Take these.” he opened a satchel and offered her a small purse of credits. “If you need anything. anything at all you come to the main hall of the settlement, my father is the head of the settlement. I will tell my father about what you have done for us and I am sure he too will reward you handsomely for your bravery.” She put her hand out for the purse “I, I don’t know what to say, that is extremely generous of you. Are you sure?” The woman answered for him “Of course he is sure. Now you best catch up with that horrible thing!” He nodded “And when you do bring its head to my father! He will hang it high for everyone to see that it is now safe to go out at night!” She nodded “I guess I can do that. If it doesn't finish me off!” with that she ran off into the fading light leaping the wall. The couple hurried quickly back to town. The girl laughed a little pulling her cloak up over her head more, listening to the woman continue to chastise the man about taking short cuts. “Oh I am sure that couple will be very happy together.” She thought under her breath as she opened the purse and counted the credits. It wasn't a great amount, but then again who carries that many credits on their person to make large purchases anyway. She looked in the direction of the crushed crops of where the animal retreated back to the forest. She would have to catch up with it later. She adjusted her cloak putting the credit purse into her belt walking in the direction of the settlement markets.

Deep in the cold dark forest late in the night the beast was licking a scratch on the back of its paw sustained from running through the scrub no doubt. It rapidly lifted its head with a snarl at the sound of a cracking twig. It was the girl. He could smell her. “What took you so long?” he growled standing tall. The spear still lodged in its neck. She walked into the clearing and put down a couple of bags from the marketplace. “Pleasant as ever A'lorr, I couldn’t just walk right back into town and spend my newly acquired “tip” it would have been too obvious. I had to at least make it look like I was going to look for you didn't I?” He let out a low growl “I guess not. I miss the smaller settlements where this wasn’t a problem. Now get this thing out of my neck and get this rubbish off me.” He knelt down on his front legs. She walked up to him and tore the spear out of him and stuck it into the ground beside her. Brushing aside the shaggy coat showing it wasn’t actually coat but long tree moss that had been woven together and tied on with strips of cloth. He shook himself as the ties were undone, the woven mess falling to the ground revealing the fact he was not wounded. The blood was the iron rich river mud mixed with water stored in a hide canteen tied under the moss and padded with . “It is unfortunate we weren’t able to make a kill to have fresh blood. It is more realistic and doesn’t stink like this muck.”

She lifted the shaggy pelt off his horned head, his disguise fully removed revealed him to be a Tarkantaur. A large canine type species, he sported four large horns. Two long almost straight protruding from the top of his skull. The other pair curved over the back of his head protecting the side of his head and ears, although one was broken off sharply about half way through. The break lining up with a barely noticeable dent on his otherwise unblemished face armour that stretched over his eyes and was held on by hardened straps that showed it had never been taken off once put on. “Realistic? Those people were too terrified to pay any attention to it. It was liquid and it was red that’s all that mattered. It also did not involve killing livestock and drawing more attention than we already have. Now look I did manage to get you this for your trouble.” She held up the sliced off leg of some beast of burden. “I mean there goes my new cloak I was planning to get but you know. You're welcome.” She took off said ragged hood and cloak and set it on a stone. Under it her clothing was slightly less ragged a leather vest and belt pouch, light woven pants under a shorter leather skirt. Her outfit offered free movement as well as some protection from the snagging branches of the dense wooded land.

“Your ancestors never wore clothes in the forests of home. Never needed them. They had us to keep them warm and defend them. So I am most welcome for this meal indeed.” He took the leg of the unfortunate beast from her and set down to eat it. His massive teeth crunching through the bone like it where nothing more than a stick. “Well. My ancestors weren’t ripped off their planet in the middle of the night and bundled onto a soon to be crashed ship on a strange planet now where they?” She set to work making a fire to cook the small amount of food she had gotten for herself, it would take a while for the wood to catch. Everything in the safe depths of the forest was always so wet. She didn't need as much to get by and would do anything to ensure her protector remained strong and fed. The flickering fire illuminated her dark amber eyes and long dark wild hair that had been banded with vine ties as it had grown progressively longer in the years spent in the forest.

“No Wren. They weren’t. They were just slaughtered.” He crunched down on the last of the meat. She sighed. She hated when he won these arguments like that. Sometimes she wished for someone else to talk to, other than the fleeting conversations with merchants and the grateful people they conned their living off. But it was necessary to stay away from them. The towns made her feel uncomfortable and crowded, and not being able to have A'lorr with her also was a problem. So it was the way it had always been, living wild and scavenging what they could.

_______________________________________

The Mandalorian bounty hunter sat on the crates scattered around the loading area where he had parked his razor crest: a gunship he would simply call old but sturdy. The loader remarked “You do not have to supervise. I hear Greef Karga wanted to see you as soon as possible upon your return.” he pushed the last of the carbonite encased fugitives off the ship. “He always does. He could use some more patience.” he finished adjusting his rifle and slung it over his back before heading to the cantina where he knew the guild master would be as always. He walked the main street adjacent to the port, it was a brutal assault on the senses, the sounds of the clamouring patrons and yelling shopkeepers. To the various degrees of street food and other wares. He was already wanting to get away from it after such a short period of time, he hoped that Greef not only wanted to see him to pay him but to also give him something else to do. Sooner the better.

The door of the cantina swished open, the building filled with various patrons several other bounty hunters from the guild included. “Ahh there he is. Mando! I heard you had landed and were dutifully observing the offload. Not like you.” The Mandalorian sat down opposite “If you had to burn as much excess fuel as I did rounding up that gang you would supervise too.”

Greef laughed “Always the bottom line for you isn’t it. But you took the job to hunt down the gang. It isn’t my fault they split up and scattered to the winds now is it. It was just fortunate that I had individual fobs for all of them. But you needn’t be all dramatic. You should thank me. I have kept a special puck just for you. Should be right up your alley.” He slid the puck across the table. The Mando stopped it with his hand and switched it on. The blurry hologram flickering in front of him on the table. He read the writing. “Unknown? Surely you have more than this. I'm not going all the way out to Asusto with so little information for this amount of credits. That wont even pay for the fuel to get back.” he switched the puck off and slid it back. Greef scoffed a bit. “I really did think this would be something you would really want even if it was a little less than a break even. What Mandalorian gives up the opportunity to hunt down a rogue beast such as this? Even though the species is unknown from the description I was told it was very big and very savage. Like nothing ever seen before. The gentleman paying the bounty said it almost killed his son and his fiancé. Perhaps he would be willing to pay more upon meeting you?”

“What's the rest of the story? You’re not telling me something.” Greef sighed “Look the contract, its for a friend I offered to get it done for him below guild rates. I wanted you to do it because you’re the best: I owe the man that much and yes I am being truthful that I knew it would be just the job for you.” The Mandalorian went to get up “Friend or no friend, desirable job or not I do not work for free.” Greef smacked the table in frustration “Dammit Mando why do you always have to be so difficult.” He pulled out two more pucks and put them on the table with their fobs “I need this from you. Here's two more bounties you can pick up on the way back Asusto, this will give you enough payment to make up for the break even job.” The Mandalorian tapped his gloved fingers on the table while he thought about it. Greef could sense his hesitation “And and one more thing. If you go about a hundred klicks south of here there's a fellow with a freight ship refuelling station, he owes me for a job. I've been meaning to send someone to collect it for me. If you go say your collecting on my behalf he should be able to provide you with the fuel to make the trip out. Surely this will be enough to get it done right?”

“Why is it so important that I am the one to do this? Any of the others in here would have been far cheaper.” He picked up the extra pucks and fobs as a sign of agreement that he would take the job. “I wanted good. Not cheap. Whoever thought it would be so difficult for me, guild master to get one of my own to do a simple hunt and kill. Just go before I consider cheap over good.” he did just that feeling accomplished in his passive negotiations that had actually netted him a decent collection of jobs.

Now he actually did look forward to the break even job. Who knew if it turned out to be an honourable kill, what ever this creature was may turn out to be a good signet. Before he left for the refuelling station he slipped into the lair of his clan to see the armour smith. He imparted some of the payment he had just received for the previous job. She already knew what it was for. He produced the first puck showing the poor image of the beast he was to hunt “Have you seen one of these before?” She looked at it and shook her head “No. I have also never seen any with a signet of such an animal. Perhaps the description is truly off.” She thought for a moment looking at the image again. “You have an insight?” he asked. “Probably not. Certainly not on Asusto. I wish you luck. I will be most interested to see the the trophy from this creature to add to our bestiary archives.” He nodded in agreement with the request before leaving for his ship.

True to his word, almost exactly where Greef said he would be was the refuelling station. The proprietor initially wanted to argue firstly about the bounty hunter putting his ship where the freight vessels had a scheduled landing and then secondly over having to provide a full payload of fuel to this stranger. It was only the mention of owing the bounty hunters guild payment and that he was there to collect, one way or another. The Mandalorian may have embellished the “...or another.” part of the instruction with his blaster to hurry things along. After nervously refuelling his ship “Now you're most definitely sure you will tell the guild master this settles my debt right? All right?” he asked nervously. He was waved off with a half hearted nod of agreement. He re-boarded his ship making his way hastily to the cockpit flicking the switches and starting the engine. The flustered refueller waving anxiously as he left. Still going on about making sure the guild knew he had settled the debt.

_________________________________________

Wren finished sharpening the last of the new spears she had made, she fixed the blade back into her staff. “Well what do you think?” A'lorr walked up and had a look over the wooden spears “Fine I suppose, for a bunch of pointy sticks.” Wren got a little annoyed “Well I noticed that I almost managed to stab you for real last time. I thought that these would stick better into the camouflage without actually damaging you, plus I also don’t care if you lose any of these while you’re running away.” A'lorr seemed to be barely paying attention. “Stop searching around in my mind. “ he growled. “Well if I have to look its because I can tell there is something on it. You are barely listening to me.” He gave her a stern look from under the brow of his faceplate “I am listening to you. I think we need to move on from here. I still do not feel comfortable about that last attack. I am uneasy. However I know that the livestock gathering and sale will be finished by tomorrow, it will not be hard to single out someone taking one or two animals back to the more isolated farms. I can make a large enough kill on my own to give us provisions, while you prepare to travel.”

Wren shook her head “Now see that just makes me feel uneasy. You want to make a kill without me? You haven’t had to kill in years. What happens if they catch you?”

“What will happen if they catch me? Wren, it is not possible for someone to actually catch me, there are no hunters on this planet as there is nothing to hunt. Except trees. Besides you'll be keeping watch.” he turned and rubbed the side of his head against his shoulder. Wren rubbed her own shoulder at that moment as she got up and walked over to him. She pushed his head away before burying her hands in his fur. “You have been doing well to keep that hidden. You could have let me know it was hurting you so much.”

He put his head up stoically “It will pass. Just too much leaping over rock walls and such.” she humoured him and pretended to believe him and he pretended not to notice she had lied.

The razor crest passed into the upper atmosphere of Asusto, the planet was observed to be very thick with forest. From what he remembered farming had only become a more viable prospect in times since the fall of the empire as more and more spread to the outer worlds. Small patches of land all over the planetoid had been clear felled for small farming settlements. He looked at the puck again getting a heading for where he should land to find out more about this creature he was to hunt. He landed the ship at the small port, securing it as he had no intention of leaving it so close to an unknown settlement for long. The inhabitants of the town were wary of a stranger in their midst. But the head of the settlement had been bragging that he was going to solve the problem of the beast as no animal was going to get away with almost killing his son.

There was a guard standing outside the town hall, the bounty hunter was impressed that it was an actual flesh and blood guard as opposed to a droid. As archaic as it was it was still a pleasant change. The guard was however startled by the hunter, he had never seen an armoured warrior like that. “What is it you want?” He held his spear across the doorway too the building. Another interesting thing, no blasters or other more advanced weaponry. No wonder someone had to call in a bounty hunter to deal with whatever the threat was. “I am here to see Arndos Vlas about his request from the Guild.” The guard looked him over. “Oh, you're here to kill the terror of the hills, the beast that stops us from walking our fields at night. I guess that's why you brought all those fancy weapons for eh? Well go right on in. He wasn’t expecting you for a while but since your here...”

He didn't wait for him to keep going on about it. Though he thought he was the most naïve guard he had ever encountered. Perhaps a droid would have been better. Arndos was a large man who had made quite the honest change in his life after fleeing to Asusto after the immediate fall of the Empire. He was once as dishonest as they came, a smuggler and a swindler who made his fortune in any dishonest way possible. But since coming to Asusto he had used his gathered credits to encourage more settlers and agriculture. His influence had spread, while he was the master of the largest of the planetoids settlements he was pleased it wasn’t the only one. “Well well well my eyes are not deceiving me. It is a Mandalorian warrior as I live and breathe. Heh I didn’t think there were many of you left. Though I guess I should not have expected less. When my friend promised me the best he could spare he meant the best he had! So what can I get you for coming all this way? Food? Drink? Maybe some company eh?”

The bounty hunter rolled his eyes beneath his helmet, no wonder this trash had friends in the guild was was probably a frequent user once upon a time. “No. What I need Is information. This puck has no actual image of what I am hunting? Only this poor image?” Arndos stood up to get himself a drink trying to ignore the man's refusal of his hospitalities. “Well unfortunately no one was able to get an image of the creature for real. That composite was formed on the description my son gave me after he and his fiancé were cornered by the beast. I have been in contact with the other settlements to ask them about it. Apparently this beast has been terrorising half the planet for years! Me. Me of all people on this planet is the last to hear about it! Not even a warning. Ingrates.”

“How many people has this animal killed?”

Arndos rubbed the back of his neck “Well to be honest, none. I investigated my son when he told me about it, he told me that someone had attacked the creature and chased after it after saving him. When the servants were cleaning up his clothes they told me that there was no blood on my simpleton son. Only red river mud. I made a living out of conning people Mando. I know a con when I see one. While I have no doubt this beast is real, it isn’t all that it seems. But if you want a start on your hunt, the fields my son was attacked near are to the east. Its a vast crop that leads into some of the deepest forest we have on Asusto. No one goes in there. You could be looking for months. It has been years and no one has managed to connect the attacks with a location. But best of luck.” he raised his glass at the bounty hunter who turned to leave.

“That's a nice Amban rifle you have there, while I'm sure you are an excellent shot keep in mind that I would certainly pay more if you were to bring its head back for me. I've got a spot picked out on the wall for it.” Arndos pointed to the empty spot on the wall that was already filled was the various trophies of other creatures from many worlds. The bounty hunter seriously doubted that he had taken many of them down himself. “Let's not get ahead of ourselves.” The bounty hunter turned and left not wanting to make promises of the beasts head to anyone, if it was a good enough fight and a worthy kill he would much rather take the lesser amount and keep it for himself.


	2. At least one hand free

Wren stayed silent as she tightened up the straps on the mossy disguise. A'lorr grunted as she tightened the straps over his shoulder “I sense you still think this is a bad idea.” Wren shook her head in response. “Your senses are right. But I do agree with at least some of your plan. This settlement is too big to stay near. So, I'll head up the escarpment and keep watch until you’re back into the forest and you can meet me where the valley narrows and we will see what is on the other side of the mountains. Hopefully something better than here.” He nodded at her understanding of their plan. “There.” she tugged on the disguise “Looks like it will stay in place.” She picked up her weapons covered her head with her hood and headed in the other direction to A'lorr who was heading towards the roads out of the settlement hoping to intercept one of the stragglers heading home from the market with their newly traded stock.

The bounty hunter had moved his ship far from the settlement and landed it with precision in a small clearing in the dense forest, flat ground and any with a lack of trees that was out of sight was hard to find. He was beginning to understand more about how this beast managed to make attacks and disappear so quickly. He had asked a few people around the outskirts of the town for what they knew about it. Mostly the answers were nothing of real use. But a few had mentioned that maybe the livestock market would be worth checking out. He thought about it, if it was some sort of con act; then hitting farmers on their way home from a stock market would possibly be a good score. An easy way to scare some money out of people. With his instincts and weapons ready he left his ship sitting safely in the clearing and went to hedge his bets on what roads out of the settlement to follow. Roads that ran around the outskirts of the settlement were of no interest, as were those that headed away from the deepest parts of the forest. He had narrowed the likely spot of an attack down to one road.

A'lorr head made his way to the edge of the forest, where the trees had begun to thin. Raising his nose to the air he sniffed. The wind was blowing the wrong way for him to smell what was coming down the road. Wren was perched high up in the hills looking down at the fields and forest edge. She could sense A'lorr's presence in her mind. He was fishing for information. She closed her eyes feeling that he could not smell properly because of the wind. She looked down the road from her high vantage point. There passing beyond the very stone wall they had their last encounter with was a man riding a jerba, also leading one along behind it. The man felt pretty safe up on his jerba, despite the rumour and speculation of the large predator it seemed unlikely that it would attack in the afternoon like this. Wren closed her eyes letting A'lorr know what was coming down the path and how far away it was. A'lorr changed his movements and headed along the edge of the forest the trees getting thin to the point where Wren could see him from her vantage point. She would be able to signal him when the right time to attack would be.

Hidden from plain view the Mandalorian was watching through his scope as well. Deliberately making sure he was down wind of the road. He knew how to deal with predators, and had no intention of warning the man and his beasts of burden. Only wanting to use them as bait, confident he could take out what ever animal this was with little collateral damage. The information he had gathered told him it was more of a clumsy hunter than a cunning creature.

Wren thought she saw something in the brush leading down from the hillside. She shook it off feeling that she was just paranoid. A'lorr was right. There weren’t any hunters on this planet that were a threat to him if there were they would have caught him already. She gasped to herself realising her mind had wandered and she forgot to be watching the prey. Her voice rang loudly in A'lorr's ears “Go now. Go over the first jerba and take out the second one. The first one is being ridden, he is alone hurry!”

The man and the jerba came around the slight curve in the road, A'lorr only had a fraction of a second to make his move as the jerba picked up his scent almost instantly when they rounded the corner. The man had only a second to try and calm the one he was riding when a massive thing burst from the edge of the brush leaping clean over him and his jerba crashing into the one he was leading knocking it down and holding it by the neck. The man almost fell as the jerba he was riding reared and kicked at the beast, the rope holding it to the one now being crushed under A'lorrs weight snapped with that it bolted taking the terrified man with it. The jerba kicked and fought at A'lorr he was getting angry and frustrated that the disguise was impeding him. The jerbas leg got caught in one of the ties and tore through it. A'lorr struggled with it more before he was finally able to get his jaws around its neck crushing down on the bone.

The opportunity was perfect, he was down wind of the beast; the fact its prey had startled before it attacked was proof enough of that. Now the shaggy animal was distracted struggling with its prey he pulled out his knife and began to slowly approach knowing he had the upper hand to make the first strike. Wren was watching the attack unfold, glad the man had managed to avoid being injured at least. She sighed feeling A'lorrs frustration at his inability to fight like he would like. It was in that moment Wren noticed the something she thought she had seen sooner. It was a man, moving through the brush below the road. She could see a weapon on his back and a blade in his hand. She closed her eyes and showed A'lorr what she could see behind him. A'lorr let go of the now dead jerba and took a step back its caught leg breaking the ties on the main part of the camouflage. Just as the bounty hunter was about to make a run at the distracted beast. It turned around unexpectedly facing him and ruining his chance at surprise. How did it do that, certain he had not made any noise and the wind had not changed direction how did it know he was there. Up close the beast towered above him. His head would easily fit in its mouth as seen by how it took town the jerba. He reacted quickly before the beast could charge. Drawing his blaster he fired at it hitting it right in the middle of its head.

Wren gasped as she heard the sound of the blaster, though her ears were ringing she wasn’t being racked with pain which was a good sign. She quickly grabbed her staff and started down the mountain as quick as she could. The bounty hunter was a little stunned. The blaster shot had hit it right in the head, a shower of smoke and sparks but it still stood? Had the shot ricocheted? He could have sworn it had. A'lorr shook himself from side to side like a wet dog; the shaggy moss disguise falling to the ground including the smoking head covering. He took a few steps towards the hunter that had appeared from the bushes. The hunter didn’t hesitate and fired again at the same spot now the beast was closer. The beast tilted its head a barely noticeable amount and this time the shot unmistakably bounced off. “That's not possible.” he said out-loud still thinking he was dealing with some non sentient species.

A'lorr came to a stop. Wren could feel A'lorr's rage boiling inside her brain and it made her head hurt her it was so intense. She could see the warrior staring up at A'lorr in disbelief, A'lorr who narrowed his glare and spoke. “What's the matter Mandalorian? Sarlacc got your tongue?”

Now he had a problem, he had a very large, very angry and now it seemed very smart beast towering over him. He was now down hill from it. His surprise attack position had now left him at a disadvantage. “Well? I thought you were all so smart. I can see your questions burning behind that mask of yours and I know you realise you've made a mistake.” In the split second it took the Mando to shift his weight so he could get his rifle off his back the beast had covered the distance between where it was standing and him with a single leap in a fraction of the time. He crashed its heavily armoured head straight into his helmet. The loud clang of Beskar steel on Beskar steel filled the air, A'lorr held the upper hand in the move as his vision was not currently filled with static and his ears weren’t ringing with interference. The force of the impact had thrown the bounty hunter harshly backwards, although he still couldn’t see he could feel the ground vibrating as the beast ran at him for a second go. He activated his flame thrower in a blanket attack to keep the incoming attack at bay. A'lorr reared back as the flames licked at his face.

He abandoned the dazed bounty hunter and his kill running into the forest, he had to keep this hunter from finding Wren. “Wren. Run. Leave me you need to go to the mountains go now.” She stopped in her tracks hearing him “Don't be crazy. I'm not going to leave you. It will be alri..” He angrily cut her off “No. It will not be all right. He will not stop he will kill us. Kill you. I have not survived the slaughter to lose you to one of these savages now! Run!” he shut her out of his thoughts and leapt down the steep incline of the forest. If he didn’t lose this Mandalorian, he would kill him and if that happened Wren would surely die.

\------------------------------------------------

He soon stopped waving his flame thrower in the direction of the beast when the vibrations on the ground faded. His vision was returning as the static cleared. He shook his head regaining his senses, wondering what in the outer rim he was dealing with. He had never seen such an animal, a towering sentient beast with Beskar armour. How had he not heard of this animal. He got to his feet, picking up his dropped blaster and knife which he tucked back into his boot. Double checking if the rifle was loaded he kept it in hand with the blaster in the other, cautiously heading down into the heavily wooded hillside following the trampled grass trail.

Wren had to stop for a moment, trying to clear her head. A'lorr shutting her out of his mind while he continued the fight had certainly helped. The telepathic and empathic connection they shared had never given her such a shock to her system. Her face stung and her eyes hurt like someone had kicked hot ash from a fire in her face, her head hurt and her shoulder was throbbing in agony. She tried again to see through his eyes and hear through his ears. He had strongly shut her out. It had never happened before. The pain from his injuries started to fade after a while she could make her way again. It would be harder to find him just on her own senses.

The Mandalorian stepped carefully down the hill. The forest darkened menacingly as he got deeper in; the canopy thickening and blocking out much of the light. The forest was mostly devoid of sound. There were no birds or other creatures. He stepped carefully almost slipping on the damp moss covered ground. The hillside was held together by the roots of the trees weaving in and out the rocks. Keeping both weapons at the ready he looked around for any signs of the beast in the thick undergrowth. From behind him there was the faintest clatter of stones falling, he turned and fired the blaster. The beast had managed to get uncomfortably close to him without him hearing it, the blaster shot flew past its ear scorching its fur. “You really shouldn’t walk in here with both hands occupied hunter!” The Mandalorian fired again managing to hit the animal in the foreleg, driven by pure rage it barely slowed him down. A'lorr swung brutally with the side if his head; knocking the hunter off the rocks with his horns. The bounty hunter had to let go of his rifle and grab at the rocks, skidding down the valley side in a tumble.

A'lorr gave no quarter fully intent on ripping the Mandalorian's head off helmet and all. Charging down the hill at the unsteady warrior, almost crashing into him again. The hunter managed to get a foot hold at the last moment and grabbed at his rifle that had stayed around his arm thanks to the strap. Just as A'lorr was about to sink his claws into him he struck him with the stunning prongs on the rifle. A'lorr let out an agonised roar when the strong sparks of electricity hit him. He fell over backwards crashing down hard against the brush several meters down coming to a hard stop against the rocky outcrop. The Mandalorian was breathing heavily, having narrowly avoided having his head ripped off. He looked down at the downed beast, the last flickers of blue electrical light dancing around the armour on its head. 

Wren paused, hearing the echo of A'lorrs pained roar, again searching her mind for any sign of A'lorr. She couldn't feel anything. She panicked for a fleeting moment, but she knew if he had died she would be in terrible pain all over. He must not be dead. Out cold maybe? Blocking her thoughts even harder? She got to the bottom of the cliffs she had been observing from. Looking around the trees running into the deep valley below. In the distance she could see small lines of smoke rising out of the trees. Blaster fire, she clambered over the rocks making haste in that direction.

The Mandalorian swung his rifle back over his shoulder, holstering his blaster before plucking his knife back out of his boot. This time keeping one hand free when making his way down the rocks towards the downed beast to take it out in a noble fashion. He was still breathing heavily, there was no way he was going to hand over this animals head to that greasy head of the settlement. He had earned the trophy from this animal and he was definitely going to make a signet of it, what ever it was. He crept cautiously closer to it and raised the knife up intent on stabbing it in its exposed chest. “Fool.” A'lorr grunted grabbing the hunters outstretched arm in his jaws as he rolled upright and flung the hunter over backwards, but as he got up to hurl the hunter his hind leg slipped through the brush on the moss; the small outcrop of stones gave way sending the pair tumbling down towards the bottom of the valley. The bottom of which ended in a sheer drop down to a deep river. They both tumbled and slid a hard impact of a broken tree made A'lorr lose his grip on the hunters arm. The hunter barely missed the tree stump the beast had crashed over but not the large rock he hit with a sickening crunch in his side. He fought through the pain searching for a fleeting moment of clarity, the next time he tumbled he fired his grappling hook at one of the trees above using it to stop his falling and hauling himself up into its branches.

A'lorr was not so lucky he skidded down the rocks, trying to grip the damp ground with his claws to stop his descent. His hind leg finally finding purchase metres from the edge. He dug his front claws into the rocks and tried to stand. The rage, adrenaline and his burning desire to kill the Mandalorian were finally no match for his state. His great form sunk to the ground. His breathing laboured and heavy. Blood seeping from his many cuts and scrapes. He groaned tasting blood in his mouth; his tongue searched around realising he was missing one of his bottom canines. His eyes darted around looking for where the Mandalorian had got to. He couldn’t see him and was too dazed to smell where he may be. Perhaps he had fallen off the edge? He hoped he had.

\----------------------------------------------

From his safe place in the tree the equally battered Mandalorian stared down at the beast. The fall seemed to have finally knocked some of the wind out of it. Though he knew how it felt. He touched his gloved hand to his side letting out a grunt of discomfort. His side felt damp. He looked at the end of his fingers, tinged red with blood. Since he was having trouble taking deep breaths he was certain one of those impacts on the way down had broken some of his ribs and bone was clearly sticking through his skin under his armour. Well that was just fantastic he thought to himself. The last thing he needed was such a severe injury. He sighed. The most efficient way to get the job done now would be to just take it out from the tree he concluded. Leaning back against the trunk of the tree while also steady on the large branch he had swung up to he inspected his rifle for damage, opened and checked the cartridge and closed it again. He aimed at the beast on the ground, it was a shame it had some to this. Having to describe it was going to have to do. Just as he was about to fire when Wren leapt out of a tree on the other side of the crevasse, digging her spear end into the rocks and vaulting over the gap she ran over to where A'lorr was, she didn’t even notice the hunter in the tree. She ran around in front of A'lorrs battered body almost beside herself with horror she could barely remember ever seeing him like this.

The Mandalorian noticed something out of the corner of his scope simultaneously pulling the trigger he just managed to move his aim. Wren let out a shriek of fright as the shot hit the ground just next to her sending a shower of sparks and rocks in every direction. She whirled around holding her weapon out as she looked up in the tree. There was the hunter, his weapon still trained in their general direction. She held her hand up at him and put her weapon down “Please, please don’t kill him. We've never hurt anyone!”

“That's not what I hear. For something that doesn't hurt anyone he's pretty good at it, now get out of the way.” He figured she probably wouldn’t but it was worth a try. A'lorr groaned as he came to. When he realised Wren was there with him he let out a pained sigh. What was she doing there she was supposed to run, he couldn’t blame her for coming to him in the end it was an undeniable part of her nature. Now he was even more worried for her safety. The more he came to the worse Wren felt. Her whole body ached and burned. It was almost unbearable. “I am sorry Wren. I am sorry you have to feel this, I don’t have the strength to keep blocking you out right now.” he glared up at the hunter in the tree “Well Mandalorian, is this what you wanted. Just know if you kill me, it will probably kill her too. Does she deserve to die for your bounty?” The Mandalorian took in the beasts words while he processed them. He was right in that sense, he couldn’t see the point of killing the girl after all she hadn’t attacked him. Yet. That beast seemed like it was some sort of companion to her. What’s to say that’s why it was so determined to kill him rather than run to try to save itself. “He's not going to kill me A'lorr. I’m unarmed and look at you. What are you going to do in the state you're in?”

A'lorr growled “Of course he can, he’s a Mandalorian warrior and he will. If he comes out of that tree I'll show him what I can do in the state I'm in” A'lorr tried to get to his feet to prove his point, Wren put her hand on him “No you don't. Down.” He sank back down in a huff not able to stop her from invading his thoughts and forcing him to stay down. The hunter looked down at the pairs interactions, wondering where she was when he could have used that skill some moments ago. He wasn’t impressed with being labelled a mindless killer by something that seemed like a mindless killer itself. He would get to the bottom of these accusations if he was able. “You get your pet to stop trying to rip my head off I might be open to negotiations.” Wren stared up at him. “Why should he? You were trying to kill him first!”

“Yes. I am a bounty hunter. He's the bounty. That is how that works. If you want to change that, you keep him from taking my head off and I don’t just disintegrate the both of you from up here.” it was when he went to reload that he caught a glimpse of the underside of his gauntlet noticing something sticking out of it. He was suddenly extra glad for that armour. There was a large canine tooth stuck in it. It must have broken off when he was flung out of the beasts mouth.

“He's not going to do anything to anyone. Anyone not trying to kill him that is.” He pointed down at her. “We will see about that. Put that weapon down and come to the base of this tree, and if you try any thing I'll shoot him from here and call it job done.” She nodded putting her weapon down. A'lorr shook his head “Wren don't.” She lent down and stroked his muzzle “Look at the condition your way has gotten you. So we will try mine okay?” She put her hands where the warrior could see them, to show she wasn't planning on trying anything and walked to the bottom of the tree. The Mandalorian re-positioned his grappling line into a strong branch above him and repelled out of the tree to the ground in front of her, retracting the line and taking out his blaster. A'lorr grew tense and fought against the telepathic hold she had over his frame. “Hands out in front.” Wren did as she was told while he swung his rifle away taking out a pair of restraints and putting them on her. He still kept his blaster trained on her “Now walk, and don't let him try anything.”

Wren looked over at him “He wont. Will you A'lorr?” A'lorr let out a grunt of pain and got slowly to his feet holding his weight off his foreleg. A'lorr shook his head as he sniffed the air. Following the pair as they walked in the direction the Mandalorian guided Wren to walk. “Smells like you didn’t come away unscathed Mandalorian.” He grunted at A'lorr's comment. “Neither did you and you don't see me limping do you?” He touched his side a moment, feeling it was still bleeding, at least his armour was holding most of the wound together for now. He knew he would need to get that treated some how. What was he even doing? Why didn’t he just go through with his contract and shoot the beast. He looked down at the canine still embedded in his gauntlet. It was a worthy trophy at least for his trouble.

“Where are you taking us?” Wren spoke up before things between the two of them escalated again. “To my ship.” he said curtly. “But you were asked here to kill him weren't you? How do we know you wont just kill us when we get there? If you have a ship why not just take us of this planet? We didn't ask to be here. We we're brought here against our will. If you took us somewhere else it wouldn't it be a win, win situation?”

“Not for me it isn’t. It doesn't get me paid. Doesn’t fuel my ship. So keep up your pace.” She sighed and did as she was asked “Going only as fast as you are.” she quipped. The bounty hunter pointed his pistol at A'lorr's head a moment “What about you explain something to me then? That is Beskar. Mandalorian iron. It belongs with our people.” A'lorr was not intimidated “You want it Mandalorian you can pry it off my cold dead skull.” He spat angrily at the Mandalorian. If Wren wasn’t still using a lot of her mental energy to keep him calm. She could feel him fighting her. She had never felt such rage from him before.

“Don't tempt me beast. Happy to accommodate.” A'lorr raised his head defiantly “May you drown in my blood when you try.” Wren tried once again to defuse the situation “Stop it now. No one is prying anything off anybody! Bounty hunter he has a name so stop calling him beast or I'll just take my chances and let him do what he wants to you. If you must know that armour is his by birthright. Our people crafted it for him, for his kind. A long time ago that is. There used to be more of it. Its been lost and traded away over the years of us being stranded here. It was stunning.” She sighed thinking about all this planet of never ending green had taken from them. For a moment he had a fleeting pang of empathy. As a Mandalorian he couldn’t think of anything worse than being stripped of his armour. It was a matter of culture and pride. “Fine. 'A'lorr' it is then.” He forced himself to pick up their pace wanting out of the depths creepy silent forest by nightfall. A'lorr growled in the back of Wren's mind that she shouldn't share more than necessary and don't think for a moment that she can trust that Mandalorian.


	3. The fear of flying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I myself am not a big fan of the sequel trilogy, but hey some folks are so there's a few easter eggs in this chapter for that.

Finally after what felt like an eternity the thick trees became sparser and the rocks and uneven ground became low bushes surrounded by grass. In the clearing ahead his ship, purposely left far from the prying eyes of anyone in the settlement. Being face to face with a ship of any sort made both Wren and A'lorr uneasy. When the bounty hunter got them up closer to it the panic started to set in. “I, I am not sure I can actually get on that.” Wren said nervously. It was starting to get darker and the Mandalorian didn’t have any patience left for fears of flying. He opened the rear door and marched them around.

“Sure you can. One foot in front of the other. Up you go.” He waved them on with his blaster. Wren gulped nervously as she walked up the ramp. Telling herself it was necessary to get off the planet. To not end up dead. When she got to the top she looked back at A'lorr who half way up the ramp when he too was over come by fear and froze on the spot. “What you too? Up you go or I just shoot you and leave you here, certainly make the ship lighter if I did.” He put his blaster away and simultaneously got his rifle in hand again. A'lorr shook his head “You'll just have to wont you. Not taking another step.” He even planted his claws into the steel. “Suit yourself.” He raised his rifle at him “No. No. Don’t you said you wouldn't. We did what you asked just give him a chance!” Wren panicked as she went to run back down the ramp. The Mandalorian tilted his head and hit A'lorr in the hind leg with the shock prongs on the end of the rifle, this time at half the power he had used to knock him out previously. A'lorr let out a pained roar and charged up the ramp away from the shock. Wren had to side step him he charged the ramp so fast. Swinging his rifle back over his shoulder he walked up the ramp.

“Now that wasn’t so hard was it.” He smirked unseen. Wren was still trying to calm down from her panic of being on a ship and thinking he was about to shoot A'lorr. Who had regained his composure, struggling to turn around in the small space. Once he was facing the Mandalorian again he was met with a dart in the neck out of the hunters gauntlet. A'lorr hit the floor of the cargo bay with a heavy crash almost instantaneously. She shrieked at the bounty hunter about to hit him in his side with her cuffed hands. He drew his blaster again getting her to stop. “Its just a tranquilliser. He will be fine. Eventually.”

“Why didn't you just use one of those before you two tried to tear each other apart?” She asked exasperated, not that she would tell either of them but the moment that A'lorr hit the floor of the ship she felt a wave of relief. Not having to fight A'lorr's burning rage or feel so much of his injuries. “I was hired to kill him. I'm a Mandalorian it is not my way to sneak up on something, sedate it then kill it while its asleep. That would not be a noble kill. Now. Can I put this away or are you going to make me freeze you in Carbonite for the duration?” She held up her cuffed hands “I'm not going anywhere with him out cold on your floor and what can I do with these on?” He holstered his blaster “You would be surprised at what some have gotten up to restrained or not to try and get off this ship. Now sit there with him while I move us ship back to the main port.” He headed to the cockpit. “Why the main port? Where are you going to take us?” Wren sat down against A'lorrs side on the cargo bay floor. 

“Right now, nowhere. I need to try and convince that Arndos Vlas, the head of the settlement that I've dealt with the beast that tried to eat his son and and his fiancé and get paid so I've got enough fuel to do a job that might actually be worthwhile.” Wren flinched as the engines roared to life, she wrapped her fingers in A'lorrs fur gripping tightly. The razor crest lifted above the canopy for its short flight back to the main port. She winced her eyes closed for the entire duration of the short flight and didn't relax or open her eyes for the short flight. She tightened her grip on A'lorr's fur when the ship rocked side to side on its landing. It wasn't til the engines whirred down again that she reopened her eyes. The bounty hunter looked down at her as he stepped out of the cockpit “Just remember you're the one that wanted off the planet as opposed to being shot. You can barely cope with a short terrestrial flight how do you expect to handle anything outside of the atmosphere? Lets go.”

“Let's? Why do you need me?” she reluctantly got up still shaking like a leaf “I'm not going to leave you unattended on my ship.” he opened the forward door, Wren sighed and climbed down and out of the ship. She really didn’t want to go into the settlement or have to see the man who had sent this bounty hunter after her and A'lorr. He closed the ship taking her again by her arm and heading back to the main hall “Don’t say anything to this fool either.” She nodded. The bounty hunter walked up to the human guard with his 'captive', the guard tactless as ever “Heh hope that's the blood of the beast and not your own bounty hunter! What's this then? A bonus?” The bounty hunter refused to answer him “Vlas in or not?” the guard was too unaware to notice his curt tone through his synthesiser “Oh yeah yeah he is. He will be happy to see you back so soon. I'm sure we will all be happy to be able to walk around our fields at night!” The guard waved him into the building.

Wren hissed quietly as they headed down the corridor “This is ridiculous we’ve never really hurt anyone!” he made a shushing motion with his hand in front of his helmet outside the doors. She rolled her eyes “Fine.” The doors slid open as they approached. “Well, well, well there he is already. That was fast. I'd heard reports of blaster fire early in the day. I mean as well as reports of another poor citizen being attacked by this beast which is unfortunate. I will have to see that he is compensated for the loss of his animal.” Arndos looked at the wild woman in restraints “And what’s this then?” the Mandalorian looked at her “A Sympathiser to the beast. You said that there was a corrupt element to these attacks. It seems they were working together. I was not able to get much out of her.” Wren just stood there looking distant. “I see. So I guess you want to be paid then hunter?” Arndos sat back into his chair. “So what has become of the beast? There is an empty spot on my wall as I mentioned prior to you beginning your hunt.” 

The Mandalorian shook his head “It was necessary to use a substantial amount of fire power to take the beast down.” he tapped some of the empty slots on the ammunition belt across his chest. “Disintegrated? What a waste. With no trophy I guess it will just be the standard fee that I told Greef I would pay. Unless you want to leave me with some other form of compensation eh?” he pointed at the bounty hunters captive “The one that has been behind the con with her now dead pet eh?”. “No. I'll be taking her with me. There are other traders who will compensate me what you will not.”

“Really? You would just sell her off to some slave traders? That is definitely cold of you Mando. But standard fee it is if you cant provide me a trophy of some sort.” He reclined back in his chair confident he was not going to have to part with more credits than necessary. “What about this?” He held up the large canine that A'lorr had left embedded in his gauntlet. Wren was mortified when she saw that he had that. She knew that A'lorr had lost one of his canines but not what became of it. “Truly? This is a tooth from the beast? It is enormous. I've never known there to be a species like this on this planet!” He paused a moment. “How did you manage to get this tooth from the beast; You claim to have disintegrated it?” The Mandalorian held up his gauntlet and pointed to the damage where A'lorr had crushed his jaws around it. 

“It was embedded in my armour. I would have kept it for my trouble. You can see how close it got and why I had to take the actions necessary to take it down.” Arndos took the tooth out of his hand and examined it “Hmm I suppose it is something, what a shame. Its head must have been truly magnificent. All right Mando about what was offered for the kill itself and I'll give you one third extra for the tooth? I'll also throw in the use of my personal bacta tank eh? Since you're practically bleeding on my floor.” The bounty hunter looked down at his wound which had started to bleed again “I'd rather not. But I will accept being seen by a suitable doctor.” Arndos shrugged his shoulders “Typical Mandalorian wouldn’t want to leave yourself vulnerable even for a moment. Suit yourself. There's a basic medical facility across the square.” He took a box out of his table drawer, opened it and removed the required credits and slid them across the table “I suppose it was a pleasure doing business with you bounty hunter. I will let Greef know your service was acceptable. And there better not be any more of those things on my planet!” 

The Mandalorian nodded taking the girl by the arm and leaving. When the doors closed behind them she hissed at him again quietly “How dare you give that man A'lorrs tooth! That wasn’t yours to give!” He didn’t answer her as he walked out past the guard as quick as he could manage to avoid talking to him. It didn’t stop the guard from way too cheerfully saying farewell to the bounty hunter. He walked across the square towards the medical facility. It was then Wren looked down and noticed the dripping trail of blood that had seeped down through his armour and clothing. Short of breath “He lost it trying to take my arm off. Left it stuck in my gauntlet. So that made it mine to do with what I wanted. Which to be honest was not to leave it with that hustler. But I wouldn’t complain If I were you. He wanted to pay me a lot more for your friends head.”

_________________________________________________________________________

Wren followed him across the square to the medical facility. “Look can you take these off me?” She held up her restrained hands “I'm not going anywhere. In case you haven’t noticed I need you and your ship to get off this planet. Wouldn’t it be counter productive for me to either try to escape or attack you? Besides you've got my only friend in the galaxy locked up in your ship. Not going to abandon him either.” He considered her words and removed the restraints just before they entered the medical facility. “Try to remember all that then.” 

Upon entering the facility, it was pretty quiet. Asusto was such a hazard free planetoid that the medical profession was scarcely ever overrun. A medical droid approached the pair. “How may I be of service? Please take a seat in exam room one” the droid pointed at the room door, the room contained a medical bed and various surgical tools and machines. The droid was already pre-emptively scanning over the Mandalorian's injuries. Reluctantly he did as instructed. “Just a patch job. Any chance of a non droid surgeon?” The droid was incapable of taking offence. “Your injury is quite severe. There is a surgeon available. However it would take some time to get him here. Perhaps I could assess your injuries first?” The droid prompted the bounty hunter to lie down on the medical bed so he could inspect the wound closer. He removed his rifle and leaned it against the bed “Your armour is making the assessment difficult, I shall remove..” The medical droid attempted to remove some of the Mandalorians armour, starting with his helmet. With a swift movement the hunter knocked the droids hand away and had his blaster ready to shoot through its head. “Try to touch that again droid and I'll turn you into parts. Call the real surgeon here. I'll wait.” The droid stepped back with protest. “Sir your blood loss is a problem, I would advise.” it was the sudden movements and time without care that finally caught up with the bounty hunter, he went to argue “No. Droids.” was all he managed to get out before he passed out falling back against the medical bed dropping the blaster on the floor. “I will call the surgeon as requested.” Wren leaned down and picked up the blaster gingerly putting it on a side table wanting nothing to do with the weapon really. She shook the bounty hunters shoulder, not getting a reaction from him she looked at the droid “No, you do what you can for him. Its not like he can tell you not to now.”

The droid hesitated. Wren also moved the rifle away from the Mandalorians immediate reach. “There if he wakes up he's not going to be able to blast you, well immediately anyway.” At Wrens request the droid moved back to the medical bed. “I still need to remove some of this armour.” Again he went to touch the Mandalorians helmet, only this time Wren grabbed the droids arm “His head is just fine. I'm sure given such a reaction before you better not take that off. Just move what is necessary okay?” The droid agreed, removing only the armour from around his shoulders and chest and began to do his work after sedating the bounty hunter, lest he wake up from the pain. “Thank-you for allowing me to do my job.” Wren sat and watched the droid work. “He will require a plasma synthesis. The blood loss has been significant. There are also six fractured ribs. A bone fragment has punctured the adjacent lung and several have pierced the skin. This is a class seven severe injury. He should be making use of a bacta tank.” The droid stated as it worked dutifully to repair what it could. Wren shook her head. Sitting on one of the sterile looking chairs in the room “He was offered. He refused.” 

“A difficult patient all round it would seem. Recovery will still take some time.” The droid stated, continuing to monitor the bounty hunters status while he repaired his shattered ribs. “There are several small fragments of bone and applied plates to the ribs to allow them to heal and restore their integrity.” The droid continued to work dutifully. Wren thought the droid was doing a good job, as far as she could tell anyway. She had always healed her minor injuries with items from the forest. Same with A'lorr and for the most part he seemed fine. Though he had recovered from much worse than she ever needed to. She could not understand the Mandalorians initial refusal to be treated by the droid. It wasn't out to cause him any harm. “There will be some scaring from this damage. He has plenty already he will most likely not be concerned with more.” The droid finished up and applied dressings. It also took the liberty of giving the bounty hunter another injection containing a cocktail of pain killers and antibiotics. “The sedation will begin to wear off momentarily. If you do not mind miss I will leave you to it. I would prefer to avoid damage and not be here when that happens.” The droid left the room for a moment then returned “I have been informed that there is to be no charge for this service. You both are free to leave when he is mobile again. Do advise caution of actions to allow the injuries to fully heal.” Wren nodded at the droids instructions “Well, I suppose I can try to tell him this but I don’t think he will listen. But thank you.” the droid left closing the door.

Wren wandered around the room for a while. Looking over some of the tools and equipment. She glanced over her shoulder at the bounty hunter wondering when the sedation would wear off. She worried what would happen if A'lorr woke up inside the ship without her there. Wren was curious about the droids work and went to pull the covers back to see what he had done to the bounty hunter. Wren let out a yelp of surprise when the bounty hunters hand shot up and grabbed her wrist tightly “Ow! That hurts, let go I wasn’t going to hurt you!” Wren tried to loosen his grip off her wrist “Guess that answers my question of how long the sedation would last, the droid didn't say.” He let go of her wrist “You let that droid work on me? And you let him sedate me? Are you crazy?!” He quickly inspected the repaired wound and looked around for his weapons and armour. “Over there.” Wren pointed seeing his concern. “Did you let that droid take my helmet off too because if you did..” he began to threaten. “No. No I didn't he was going to but I stopped him from doing it when I saw your reaction when he tried the first time.” The bounty hunter was inwardly impressed at her action. But gave her an accepting nod. “But you left me in an undefended state.” She crossed her arms “Undefended state? Just because I don't know much about blasters and rifles does not make me completely useless in a fight. Nothing was going to happen to you.” he sat up with a groan still in pain from the droids messing around on his insides. The painkillers were wearing off with the sedation. He began to put his armour back on. “There's no honour in expecting or trusting your enemy to protect you.” Wren pondered his statement “Well I guess I would not have been protecting my enemy just protecting my way off the planet.” The Mandalorian finished restoring his armour, he retrieved his weapons. Keeping his blaster out in case someone came poking around wondering why Wren was lose. “Speaking of getting off the planet lets get out of here. I'd hate for your friend to wake up and wreck my ship from the inside out.” When they left the room the droid saw the bounty hunter was armed and made a hasty retreat into another room “I don't think he likes you.”. “He doesn’t have to like me. He just needs to be glad I didn't catch him digging around my insides. Let's go. I want off this planet just as much as you do.” They walked hastily back to the Razor Crest, using his gauntlet to open the door, Wren went up the ramp first and straight to A'lorr to check on him. 

The Mandalorian stepped onto the ship behind her as the door closed. The noise of it all causing A'lorr to stir, when the scent of the ship and the Mandalorians presence hit his nostrils his eyes shot open a deep growl coming from him. Wren stroked his fur trying to calm him down “A'lorr its okay, calm down Its okay.” A'lorr wasn't about to calm down on her say so. The compounds in the sedative left him disoriented enough to not be sure where he was, he tried to sit up. “When I get my claws on that Mandalorian I'm going to rip him apart. What did he do to me!” He pushed Wren aside with his head and started to stagger to his feet. Wren tried harder to calm him “It was for your own good A'lorr it didn't hurt you.” He pushed her aside with his head “Shouldn't have trusted him.” Wren pushed back on A'lorr “Stop it you'll just end up hurting yourself more, don’t you want to get away from this place? We cant stay here any more.” A'lorr huffed with annoyance considering her words. Tapping his claws on the floor. “Fine. But if he tries anything again I’m going to rip...” Wren gasped as she saw another one of the bounty hunters sedative darts fly past her head and hit A'lorr in his neck. A'lorr groaned robbed of the rest of his sentence lost the feeling in his back legs first and slumped back to the cargo bay floor again. Wren marched over to the bounty hunter and hit him in the arm “What did you do that for? He would have been fine!” He shrugged off her hit like it was nothing and took her by the arm and made her walk to the cockpit stairs. “No he wouldn’t have. Not going to try and fly with an unpredictable animal lose on my ship.” Wren shook off his grip as she walked up the stairs. He pointed out the passenger seat “Sit there and try not to touch anything.” She folded her arms and sat “Not to mention you almost hit me with that thing!” He walked past her and sat down himself focusing on flicking switches and starting up the engines “If I wanted to hit you from that distance I would have. Believe me.”

________________________________________________________________________

Wren tucked her feet around the base of the chair, gripping the sides of it tightly while wincing her eyes shut. The Razor Crests engines came to life in a noisy fashion. It was even more disturbing sitting in the cockpit able to see and hear it all as the ship moved with its gradual rock from side to side prior to lifting off the ground. “This is a very bad idea.” The bounty hunter pushed forward on the throttle; pushing the ship out of Asustos atmosphere. Wren opened one of her eyes and watched as the sky blended from blue to black. The stars beginning to pepper the sky like instant night. However despite the view she still clung to the seat, her knuckles turning white. The bounty hunter looked over his shoulder at her cringing into her chair. “Real good reason to be afraid of being in your position.” He adjusted the controls, looking at the star chart to set a heading. “This fear of flying is going to have to stop. It is something you will have to deal with if you both want to get anywhere out in the universe now you are off a backwater place like Asusto.”

“It is all right for you to say such things, you're probably not scared of anything. We have ever been in a craft once before we met you and It was one of the worst experiences we have ever been through and almost ended up dead because of it. Is it so bad that I just don’t want to go through another crash.” He reached over and gave her leg a shake “Open your eyes properly and look around out here. There is nothing to hit.” Wren flinched and opened her eyes “I don't know. I really cant tell. Its no different than looking into the sky at night.” He shook his head “Not another planet or asteroid in this quadrant. Stop clinging onto that chair. You better start talking and deal with it or I will give you a carbonite bath and fly in peace.” She cringed at the thought. “Talking about it Is not going to fix it.” Wren sighed. He stayed silent, not having any more of her protests about it. “Fine, But Its not going to make any difference. We had been alone hiding from the attackers that came to our planet. It had been a long time since we had seen any of the others. But it was always a plan that if we got separated in the battles that we were to head to the other side of the largest volcano we could see from the village. I can't remember much of what happened before we headed that way. I remember A'lorr being hurt. I remember running, I remember the branches and brush hitting me in the face. I remember A'lorrs armour clashing as he ran. I'd never ridden him before.” He seemed surprised “Really? Your people had great beasts like him as your companions and you didn’t ride them as a normal practice?”. 

“Of course not. Tarkantaurs are used for hunting and fighting. Riding them unless it was an absolute necessity was considered against the ways of our nature.” “Mandalorians once rode beasts greater than your Tarkantaur. None of them left now.” Wren didn’t think that was such a good comparison “So not much difference then really. We could see the ash plain at the base of the volcano as the trees cleared. There wasn't any sign of anyone else from the village. We knew it would leave us very exposed going across the ash plain so we took the longer way around on the forest edges. Had we gone across the plain we would have seen the hunters and their ship that were obscured by the steam clouds on the plain.” Wren shook her head at the memory “It was when we reached the other side of the ash plain of the it went off, there was a net trap buried in the ash just outside the tree line. It was so sudden, that trap hurled us into the air so fast. It was then we saw the hunters, they must have known we would have been coming. Hidden downwind and waited. A'lorr was so angry. Actually I had never felt him so angry again until he saw you.” he focused on what he was doing, but did notice she had let go of the edge of the chair while she recounted what had happened. “Hunters? Bounty Hunters?”

“No. These were poachers. They said some Sulculvis? Regent Sulculvis. Yes I think that’s what they had said. Said they would be very happy to have the last Tarkantaur in his zoo. The last. We didn't think we were the last. Of course that was then they said they had paid good credits to take one 'lucky' one off the planet. Said the others would wish they were so lucky.” She fidgeted with the end of her hair while she thought. “Then the net shocked us. It was not unlike your rifle tip. It was so hot it burned all over. I know we fell hard to the ground, then in and out of consciousness from the shock. When we woke up again, we were locked in the cargo hold of their ship. It was huge on the inside. Lined with cages, I had never seen so many different creatures they all sounded in so much distress, clawing at their cages. More awful than anything I could have imagined. Those poachers kept coming down into the hold, they would poke stun batons through the bars shocking and antagonising everything. If A'lorr had not been so exhausted I'm sure he would have been trying to attack those men through the bars of the cage like everything else was that's for sure.” The Mandalorian thought about how much he ached all over after receiving a dose of the Tarkantaurs rage “How lucky for them.”

Wren knew what he was getting at but didn't engage him on the topic. “They were pointing out what creatures were going where. Pointed at some, said they were going to a King Prana. They laughed about who was giving credits for what. A'lorr was worth quite a lot for being the last of his kind. It hurt that they kept pushing on that, it meant everyone else was gone. Or at least they would be soon. Said I was the last too. But that I didn’t belong in a zoo and would make more credits dumped off at a slave market. We were stuck in the cages for so long with no idea what was going on. You could hear some of the other creatures attacking one another in the cages. I guessed from not being fed anything. They were making jokes and bets that if they didn’t feed A'lorr for long enough if he would just eat me. Those poachers were sickening. I really did miss the sky by that point. I missed home. We both did. The whole ship was a brutal assault on the senses. We lost track of how many days we were locked up in that pit of horrors, but we heard them talking about needing to refuel and get supplies to keep things, alive.” She sat back in the chair, rubbing her arms. “It was when they were coming to land on Asusto when everything some how managed to get worse. Don't know if you know this but Asusto is prone to magnetic storms, you can see them from the ground but not from up there. I guess I would appreciate how pretty they were if It wasn’t such a bad memory. The whole ship started to shake on approach, everything on the ship went silent for the first time since we took off. It dropped suddenly many times over, the cargo and cages came loose. The animals were hitting the roof their cages and then back to the floor. Those poachers came running into the cargo hold trying to secure things that had come loose. The ship was in the thick of the magnetic storm. It all went dark. The glowing particles flickered through the cabin it was all you could see, we heard some of the poachers cry out, they must have gotten too close to one of the cages and been grabbed. The sounds of the creatures and men screaming had drowned out the fact the engines had stopped. It began to fall to the planet surface, spiralling on the way down. Some how A'lorr knew what was going to happen. He grabbed me in his jaws pulling me close to his chest plate. He put his front legs around me so hard I couldn't breathe. Held me so tight his claws were digging into me.” She took in a deep breath like she was happy to remember she could breathe. 

“There was a surreal moment, then the ship hit the surface of the planet. One of the snow covered peaks in the south of the planet. It was almost a vertical drop, everything not tied down went crashing into the forward of the ship; those poachers, were lucky. They died almost instantly as the ship hit the ground, crushed mangled. Thrown about like sticks in a river. Breaking just as easily. I felt the hard hit as A'lorr and I bashed against the side of the cage. That was the easy part. It was the eternity of the ship sliding down the mountain, parts exploding off it, it just rolled over and over the sounds of the other creatures crying in agony. Then the rocks came slicing into the cargo hold, along with the flames and sparks from the engines. We could hear the scraping sound of the rocks coming along the hull towards us, our cage was shattered as the huge jagged chunk of rock sliced through it. A'lorr slammed into the rock with a sickening crunch as the side of the hull completely tore open under us. Somehow, that was the moment I felt his jaws on my shoulder again as we tumbled out through the sparks and carnage. A'lorr dug his claws into the surface and we came to a stop in the snow and ice. We looked down and saw the ship break apart on the way down the mountain before it went over a steep drop. The glow of the explosion lit up the whole valley. When everything was quiet apart from the wind and the distant crackling of fire. We had a chance to look over one another. I was covered in bruises and cuts, though Id dealt with worse hunting injures, A'lorr had protected me from the crash and paid the price with his body.”

Wren sighed as the tension of talking about the crash had started to leave her, she hadn’t spoken about it at length before. A'lorr had refused to speak of it for some time. “He had lost some of his armour in the crash. Some where either metal or rock had sliced across his head. Took off most of one of his horns, cut the side of his head deeply.” The Mandalorian nodded he had wondered what had caused the dent in the thick piece of Beskar “The armour saved his life but it didn’t save his leg. It was so badly shattered the bones poked through his shoulder. I had to push the bones back as best as I could. His roar of pain was unimaginable. We used parts from the wreck to address the wound. Sealed it with a chunk of hot metal from the wrecked engines. When we did get off that mountain. He couldn't move or hunt for months. There was not much to scavenge from the wreck. Everything was dead. Killed in the impact or the explosion.” he adjusted some controls “You don’t need to go into it any more. Your fear was justified.” Wren tilted her head “Was?” He accelerated the ship more adjusting the course “I am not going to crash this ship. Your fear is obsolete.” “Lets hope so. Speaking of flying and not crashing, Where are we all going?” He tapped the navigation screen. “Corporate sector, Cantonica.” She looked at how far away it was. “Canto Bight, not welcoming of bounty hunters” Wren asked innocently “Can't you just not dress like a bounty hunter for that?” He shook his head “No. I'm a Mandalorian. It doesn't work like that.” Wren nodded accepting his overly simplified answer.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope some one is enjoying! I do try to plant easter eggs and tie ins with various shows/movies. I was never a Star wars fan. The Mandalorian changed that and I had to study the lore to death in some parts as Star Wars is a scary fandom to write accurately for!


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